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Elli Cares: Dementia support app

An app for people living with early to mid-stage cognitive impairment.
The app is also useful for families who support persons living with early to mid-stage cognitive impairment.

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Elli Cares: Dementia support app	By Elli Cares
	Features Tracking of location with safe zone radius. Reminders of tasks with image or video reminders. Appointment reminders with address geotagging. Activity log with adherence monitoring. Personalising of the app with profile pictures of supported person and care team.
Country of origin	New Zealand
Clinical review	Read a clinical review below.
Security and privacy	Does the app: Collect medical information? Unknown Require a login? Yes Have password protection? Yes Have a privacy policy? Yes Require internet access to use? Yes Read more about safety and security when using apps. Brochures: Tips to improve your privacy and security [PDF, 65 KB] Healthify He Puna Waiora, NZ Staying safe online(external link) Netsafe, NZ
Cost	Basic is free, but there is a paid upgrade version. Information below is based at the time of review (in-app option). Cost: $16.99/month or $169.99/year for upgrade to Elli Cares Plus.
Advertisements	This app contains no ads.
How to get the app	(external link) (external link) (external link)

The Elli Cares app is aimed at enabling people with mild cognitive impairment to maintain a level of independence. It's also useful for families to support persons living with early- to mid-stage cognitive impairment.

The home screen on the app allows you to 'Add Reminders'. These reminders can be for a task, appointment or to take your medication. In addition to setting text-based reminders, you can also add reminders as a voice or video recording. The video recording is particularly helpful when visual instructions are required.
This app promotes safety by allowing “safe zones” to be pinned, and location tracking helps you navigate your way back if you're lost. If you're unsure, the app will allow you to call your loved one to find your way back.
If you're part of the “Care Team’’ (up to five family members on paid version of the app), an alert is sent to you in real time if your loved one has left or entered the distance radius field of the safe zone. Also, if your loved one has clicked, “I’m fine, Ignore the alert", you'll know this as well.
This app also allows the Care Team to share or update tasks from their phone remotely.
Family members can also review reminders and task activities to monitor compliance and adherence to medications and activities of daily living.
The app has AI-generated support and dementia-related resources which both the supported person and Care Team can access.

For the complete app description, go to the app website(external link), Google Play(external link), App Store(external link) or, for a more detailed review, see reviews below.

This section is based on the paid version (on a 7-day trial) of the app.

PROS	CONS
For people living with cognitive impairment: ✔ Empowers independence with activities of daily living. ✔ Provides simple and easy to understand medication reminders. It tells the number of pills and time of day to take them and you can also upload a picture of what the bottle or packet or the medication itself looks like. ✔ Provides simple appointment and tasks reminders. For appointments, geotagging allows address to be pinned. You can also set reminders prior to the actual appointment. ✔ Video reminders allow you to carry out customisable tasks such as turning on the microwave or washing machine with reminders acting as a guide to do so. ✔ The app is personalised with profile pictures. For Carers: ✔ The app enables peace of mind knowing that your loved one can safely take care of themselves. ✔ The app allows carers to monitor tasks, reminders and location without being obtrusive.	✘ You need to have a certain level of digital literacy to manage the app optimally. ✘ Visual and auditory impairment may cause usability problems for senior users. ✘ Ethical concerns regarding privacy and dignity with tracking. ✘ App needs bug fixes as it crashes when watching instructional videos on the app.

PROS

CONS

For people living with cognitive impairment:

✔ Empowers independence with activities of daily living.

✔ Provides simple and easy to understand medication reminders. It tells the number of pills and time of day to take them and you can also upload a picture of what the bottle or packet or the medication itself looks like.

✔ Provides simple appointment and tasks reminders. For appointments, geotagging allows address to be pinned. You can also set reminders prior to the actual appointment.

✔ Video reminders allow you to carry out customisable tasks such as turning on the microwave or washing machine with reminders acting as a guide to do so.

✔ The app is personalised with profile pictures.

For Carers:

✔ The app enables peace of mind knowing that your loved one can safely take care of themselves.

✔ The app allows carers to monitor tasks, reminders and location without being obtrusive.

✘ You need to have a certain level of digital literacy to manage the app optimally.

✘ Visual and auditory impairment may cause usability problems for senior users.

✘ Ethical concerns regarding privacy and dignity with tracking.

✘ App needs bug fixes as it crashes when watching instructional videos on the app.

Clinical review

Reviewer: Payal Kumar, Registered Nurse, Enliven-Presbyterian Support Central
Date of review: March 2025
Platform: Android
Version: 2.1.0 Note: This review is based on the paid (7-day trial) of the app.
Comments: This app is very promising as it truly will help those that need to get around with gentle reminders. We don’t really know what we have till we lose it, and this app will help support those who have started to face some gaps in their memory. Families will feel reassured with the real-time notifications and the supported person will continue to live as autonomously as possible.
There may be an opportunity to integrate the app with wearable devices such as smart watches or smart rings which would monitor vitals, although this would bring its own set of challenges given the target user (such as training and ease of use).
Overall, this is a great app, but it does needs bug fixes as it crashes when watching instructional videos on the app.
Safety concerns: None.
New Zealand relevance: Yes
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Consumer guide – how to choose a health app
Clinicians guide – how to choose a health app
Dementia apps
Dementia topics
New Zealand-based apps
NZ Health App Library

Disclaimer: The NZ Health App Library is a free consumer service to help you decide whether a health app would be suitable for you. Our review process is independent. We have no relationship with the app developers or companies and no responsibility for the service they provide. This means that if you have an issue with one of the apps we have reviewed, you will need to contact the app developer or company directly.